Transcript Reconstruction (1865

Key Questions
1. How do we
bring the South
back into the
Union?
2. How do we
rebuild the
South after its
destruction
during the war?
4. What branch
of government
should control
the process of
Reconstruction?
3. How do we
integrate and
protect newlyemancipated
black freedmen?
President Lincoln’s Plan
« 10% Plan

Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction (December 8, 1863)

Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in
the South.

He didn’t consult Congress regarding
Reconstruction.

Pardon to all but the highest ranking
military and civilian Confederate
officers.

When 10% of the voting population in
the 1860 election had taken an oath of
loyalty and established a government, it
would be recognized.
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
Senator
Benjamin
Wade
(R-OH)
«
Required 50% of the number
of 1860 voters to take an
oath of allegiance
«
Required a state
constitutional convention
before the election of state
officials.
«
Enacted specific safeguards
of freedmen’s liberties.
Congressman
Henry
W. Davis
(R-MD)
Jeff Davis Under Arrest
13th Amendment
«
Ratified in December, 1865.
«
Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall exist within the
United States or any place subject to
their jurisdiction.
«
Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)
«
Bureau of Refugees,
Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands.
«
Many former northern
abolitionists risked
their lives to help
southern freedmen.
«
Called “carpetbaggers”
by white southern
Democrats.
Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through
Southern
Eyes
Plenty to
eat and
nothing to
do.
Freedmen’s Bureau School
President Andrew Johnson
« Jacksonian Democrat.
« Anti-Aristocrat.
« White Supremacist.
« Agreed with Lincoln
that states had never
legally left the Union.
Damn the negroes! I am
fighting these traitorous
aristocrats, their masters!
President Johnson’s Plan (10%+)
« Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except
Confederate civil and military officers and those with
property over $20,000 (they could apply directly to
Johnson)
« In new constitutions, they must accept minimum
conditions repudiating slavery, secession and state debts.
« Named provisional governors in Confederate states and
called them to oversee elections for constitutional
conventions.
Growing Northern Alarm!
«
Many Southern state
constitutions fell short of
minimum requirements.
«
Johnson granted 13,500 special
pardons.
«
Revival of southern defiance.
BLACK CODES
Slavery is Dead?
Black Codes
« Purpose:

Guarantee stable labor
supply now that blacks
were emancipated.

Restore pre-emancipation
system of race relations.
« Forced many blacks to
become sharecroppers
[tenant farmers].
Congress Breaks with the President
«
Congress bars Southern
Congressional delegates.
«
Joint Committee on
Reconstruction created.
«
February, 1866 President
vetoed the Freedmen’s
Bureau bill.
«
March, 1866 Johnson
vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act.
«
Congress passed both bills over
Johnson’s vetoes 1st in
U. S. history!!
th
14
«
Amendment
Ratified in July, 1868.

State and National citizenship to those born and
naturalized in the US. No state could…

Make laws that abridge the privileges and
immunities of US citizens

Deprive life, liberty, or property

Deny equal protections under the law

Negates 3/5ths clause, any state deny right to vote to
a portion of the adult, male population will have
representation in HOR and electoral votes reduced
accordingly

Disallow ex-confederates from holding political office
at state and federal level.
The Balance of Power in
Congress
State
White Citizens
Freedmen
SC
291,000
411,000
MS
353,000
436,000
LA
357,000
350,000
GA
591,000
465,000
AL
596,000
437,000
VA
719,000
533,000
NC
631,000
331,000
The 1866 Bi-Election
«
A referendum on Radical Reconstruction.
«
Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda tour around the
country to push his plan.
«
Republican voters in South
«Carpetbaggers
«Scalawags
«Freedmen
«
Republicans
won a 3-1
majority in
both houses
and gained
control of
every northern
state.
Johnson’s “Swing around
the Circle”
Radical Plan for Readmission
« Civil authorities in the territories were
subject to military supervision.
« Required new state constitutions,
including
black suffrage and ratification of the 13th
and 14th Amendments.
« In March, 1867, Congress passed an act
that authorized the military to enroll
eligible black voters and begin the
process of constitution making.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
«
Military Reconstruction Act

Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states
that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment.

Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5
military
districts.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
«
Tenure of Office Act

The President could not remove
any officials [esp. Cabinet members]
without the Senate’s consent, if the
position originally required Senate
approval.
§ Designed to protect radical
members of Lincoln’s government.
Edwin Stanton
President Johnson’s Impeachment
« Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868.
« Johnson replaced generals in the field who were
more sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction.
« The House impeached him on February 24
before even
drawing up the
charges by a
vote of 126 – 47!
The Senate Trial
« 11 week trial.
« Johnson acquitted
35 to 19 (one short of
required 2/3s vote).
The 1868 Republican Ticket
The 1868 Democratic Ticket
Waving the Bloody Shirt!
Republican “Southern
Strategy”
1868 Presidential Election
Grant Administration Scandals
«
Grant presided over an era of
unprecedented
growth and
corruption.
«
This will hurt
republicans in 1876
Sharecropping
Tenancy & the Crop Lien System
Furnishing Merchant
§ Loan tools and seed
up to 60% interest
to tenant farmer to
plant spring crop.
§ Farmer also secures
food, clothing, and
other necessities on
credit from
merchant until the
harvest.
§ Merchant holds
“lien” {mortgage} on
part of tenant’s
future crops as
repayment of debt.
Tenant Farmer
§ Plants crop,
harvests in
autumn.
§ Turns over up to ½
of crop to land
owner as payment
of rent.
§ Tenant gives
remainder of crop
to merchant in
payment of debt.
Landowner
§ Rents land to tenant
in exchange for ¼
to ½ of tenant
farmer’s future
crop.
Colored Rule
in the South?
Blacks in Southern Politics
«
Core voters were black veterans.
«
Blacks were politically unprepared.
«
Blacks could register and vote in states since
1867.
« The 15th
Amendment
guaranteed
federal voting.
15th Amendment
«
Ratified in 1870.
«
The right of citizens of the United States
to vote shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States or by any state on
account of race, color, or previous condition
of servitude.
«
The Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
«
Women’s rights groups were furious that
they were not granted the vote!
African American Politicians
• 22 African Americans were elected to high
public office during reconstruction
– Thirteen were ex-slaves
• Five of the first twenty Blacks elected to
the House were denied their seats and ten
others had their terms interrupted or
delayed.
Black Senate & House Delegates
African American US Senators
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hiram Revels (Ms): 1870-71
Blanche Bruce (Ms): 1875-81
Edward Brook (Mass): 1967-1979
Carol Moseley Braun (Il): 1993-1999
Barack Obama (Il): 2005-2008
Roland Burris (Il): 2008 - 2010
New in 2013: Tim Scott (SC), Cory Booker (NJ)
The “Invisible Empire of the South”
Federal Enforcement
«
Enforcement Acts of 1870
& 1871 [also known as the
KKK Act].
« Created to protect 14th
and 15th amendment
rights from terror
groups
« Targeted KKK
« A few hundred Klan
members were jailed
The Civil Rights Act of 1875
Forbade denial of access on the basis of race to
theaters, hotels, railroad cars, and other
privately owned facilities that served the public
Forbade segregation of blacks and whites in their
use of such privately owned facilities
Shortcoming lacked a strong
enforcement mechanism.
No new civil rights act was attempted
for 90 years!
Northern Support Wanes
« “Grantism” & corruption.
« Panic of 1873 [6-year
depression].
«
Idealism faded
1876 Presidential Tickets
1876 Presidential Election
The Political Crisis of 1877
« “Corrupt Bargain”
Part II?
Hayes Prevails
A Political Crisis: The
“Compromise” of 1877